- Date
- January 30, 1988, 10:29 local (15:29 UTC)
- Place
- Sanford, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N2769PSikorsky S-58E
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 28, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880130001599A
- Case key
- 32129
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
Plt was attempting to give himself a checkout in the helicopter for he believed the fee for a check plt was too expensive. During a second attempt at hover flt he positioned himself with a 90 degree, 12 knot right crosswind. As the acft became light on the wheels it began rolling uncontrollably to the left. His ground crew stated that at this point the main rotor blades made ground contact. Full cyclic control was needed to right the acft after it became airborne however the acft continued to drift to the left. A hard landing was made to get the acft on the ground under control at which time the left main landing gear failed and the main rotor blades again touched the ground.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2769P
- Reported as
- Sikorsky S-58E
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 58-077D
- Airframe hours
- 2,856
- Engine
- Wright R-1820, 1,200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- William L. Mitchell
- Registered owner
- Richard J. Salter
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 29, 1988 · 1 hours before
- Airport
- SFB · Sanford
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 44
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 6,115 total · 1 in this make and model · 5,818 as pilot in command · 1 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 12 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 12,000 ft broken
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SFB
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.